GRAND RAPIDS -- An international sustainability nonprofit is using Grand Rapids as a yearlong case study by giving city leaders a new data planning process to help them prepare for changing climate.

Local Governments for Sustainability USA rolled out their new online "flagship tool" here and in Miami, Fla., this week. The program helps guide community decisions on capital improvement and infrastructure planning in an era of changing weather patterns.

Mayor George Heartwell has been outspoken about climate change mitigation and said this represents the next step in planning for the effects.

"We need to be a resilient community," Heartwell said. "We need to be prepared for whatever is coming.

"I'm not assigning any fault or blame. I'm just saying that the reality is that we're going to have hotter temperatures, increased rain and increased snow events."

He said the new tool should help city leaders develop concrete plans from weather data the city tracks. The tool is free, but the cost of application "only gets answered through the planning process," he said.

"If we need to accelerate the investments were making in storm sewer and storm water treatment facilities, the plan is going to tell us that," Heartwell said.

Steven Chester, the former director for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said the failure of Congress to pass cap and trade legislation this year and the recent election means local movement on climate change is even more pressing. Chester attended the Thursday press conference at the DeVos Center, where leaders announced the plan.

Michael Davdison, Midwest director for Local Governments for Sustainability USA echoed Chester by saying communities are used to coming up with creative ways to fund projects and that planning is relatively inexpensive.

"Even though the politics have changed in Washington and we're looking at the possibility of federal money drying up, I still think governments are going to be moving ahead locally," he said.

The first step with the tool in Grand Rapids will be to find ways to integrate it with the city's sustainability plan, which includes target goals like reducing emissions in conjunction with the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.